Icelandic Threads is an invitation to breathe easy: to come into sync with the month that follows the winter solstice and to immerse in the beauty of the handmade - in revealing the pulses of nature.

For the exhibition, Greenwood has furnished the space with hand-dyed fabrics and made an edition of hand-stitched books entitled ‘Vestiges’ that include folded, sewn, dyed, and printed crinoline pieces accompanied by text. The textile work is hand-dyed wool, cotton and silks stitched with silk and cotton thread. Much of the work was made while Greenwood was in residence at the Icelandic Textile Center (Textílsetur Íslands) in Blönduós, Iceland. Combining her interests in art and science, Greenwood explores the shared geological landforms of Iceland and Oregon and investigates the natural and magical features of these two landscapes: mountain, elemental, weathering, volcanic, fluvial and coastal; layering past and present, permanent and ephemeral, the installation is a tincture of the artist’s ancestral memory.

Greenwood’s artwork focuses on history and connection: transforming personal and historical information, materials and textile items into sculptural images, objects and books examining the confluence of nature, materials, and magic, as well as the animism of place.

“My residency in Iceland allowed my interior life to emerge - as inspiration unfolded into a new body of work that extends into the past, present and future. This initiated an experience of artistic involution with the Icelandic landscape in it’s raw, primal, feminine self. The strength of the landscape and my sense of kinship with the land, changed me, and my work. It is this ongoing revelation of connectedness, which I am exploring in this installation at the Joan Truckenbrod PopUp Gallery. My intention is to initiate through my own presence in the gallery, my availability for conversation and dialogue with the deep intelligence of this community.”

The ancient Icelandic word for intuition is “innsæi,” but in Iceland it has multiple meanings. It can mean “the sea within” which is the borderless nature of our inner world, a constantly moving world of vision, feelings and imagination beyond words. It can mean “to see within” which means to know yourself, and to know yourself well enough to be able to put yourself in other people’s shoes. And it can mean “to see from the inside out” which is to have a strong inner compass to navigate your way in our ever-changing world.”

Anne Greenwood is a textiles and community engagement artist. Born on the high plains of rural North Dakota, Anne spent her childhood roaming the hills, along the rivers and in the starry night sky. She has lived in Portland for the past twenty-seven years where she has worked as a gardener and artist. She has received grants from the Oregon Arts Commission, Regional Arts & Culture Council, Multnomah County Cultural Coalition, was awarded residencies at Caldera and Playa in Oregon and has taught in schools and in workshops with all ages of students. In 2018 she traveled to Iceland for a residency at the Icelandic Textiles Center and spent a week hiking with Signal Fire in the Oregon Cascades for a residency called Carbon: Writing in the Pulse. In November Anne will be in residency at Pine Meadow Ranch near Sisters, Oregon to finalize a new project called Out of the Blue: a limited edition deck of cards inspired by Icelandic folk magic.